[ { "id": 285707, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-152 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [9-10]", "page_number": 321, "title": "CO129-152 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [9-10]", "content_text": "\"(“Daily Press” of 3rd December, 1870.)\n\n## THE COST OF THE POLICE.\n\n320 19\n\nTo the Editor of the **\"DAILY PRESS.\"**\n\nSIR-The late general complaints regarding the increasing charge for the Police, combined with their admitted inefficiency, has induced me to gather a few facts regarding them, and I trust you will grant sufficient space in your Journal for the insertion of my remarks.\n\nIt is both curious and interesting to note the increased requirements for Police purpose since 1859, and how dangerous it is to allow Amateurs to hold positions of trust that their antecedents did not warrant.\n\nIn May, 1859, Sir JOHN BOWRING left the Colony, and at the date of his departure the Police Force consisted of 316 officers and men, kept up at a cost of £12,965.10s. Od., or $62,234.40.\n\nDuring his residence in the Colony, Sir J. BOWRING took matters easily, his mind possibly being occupied with calculations of profit made from investments in the Creek Loan, and attempts to appropriate and obtain credit for translations of Chinese works, yet the protection offered by the Police during his rule could hardly be termed useless. His successor, Sir H. ROBINSON, arrived in September, 1859, and to signalize his advent and expend some surplus energy, commenced to show the weak points on the Police of his predecessor, and new broom like, determined on wholesale reforms. With these I have little to do saving with those bearing on the Police.\n\nIn December, 1861, authority was given to an officer of the Bombay Fusileers to engage a number of men for the Police service, (the officer, if my memory serves me correctly, receiving £1,200 for this little job, although not mentioned in the estimates), so that in 1862 the force was increased by 238, making to end of year 1865, a total of 594 men, costing $147,938 per annum.\n\nOn the arrival of Sir R. MACDONNELL. Sanguine hopes were held that his clear judgment would be brought to bear, and the notorious abuses in the force remedied, but these were soon blasted, and instead of curtailment a large increase was declared necessary. Men from the Bombay presidency were voted as useless, and Sikhs decided on as useful in warlike affairs, as well as most capable to act as guardians of the peace. How far they have merited this character, residents in the Colony are well able to judge, rendering it superfluous on my part to sing their praise! The result is that Sir R. MACDONNELL has left the Colony saddled with a force of 717 men and officers, at an annual cost of $202,012, being an increase since 1859 of 401 men and $139,777.60 without adequate advantage or increase of the population.\n\nOn the 17th August last, incompetence of the Police was the subject of a debate by the members of the Legislative Council, and our worthy Lieut.-Governor, after admitting all that was said against them, suggested the remedy by ridding us of the Asiatic portion of the force, and the introduction in their place of West Indians, at a cost of $180 per man.\n\nEvery one, I believe, has his particular hobby, and as long as he rides it at his own expense, it is generally comparatively harmless, but having tried the sons of Shem, it would be wise before engaging the descendents of Ham to consider if from the members of Japhet's family we cannot satisfy our wants; the more so, as men from England can be brought out to this Colony via the Suez Canal at an average cost of £20 each, or $84 less than the estimate for colored men from the West Indies.\n\nMy next object is to endeavour to point out a few of the causes of the uselessness of the present so called guardians of the Peace.\n\nIn former years, when Mr. May, now Senior Police Magistrate, was Superintendent, owing to his energy this ill assorted body of men was brought into some shape, and made in a measure serviceable; and his successor (Captain QUIN) might also have shown the same result, had not his ill advised friends continually lauded his talents, while his detractors (among whom I must class Sir R. MACDONNELL) could or would not see any merit in his rule; the well known result being that he resigned his post and is now in receipt of a pension from the Colony of £200 a year.\n\nHaving got quit of an incompetent servant, it might have been expected that our Governor would have carefully selected the best man, or if no suitable one was to be found in the Colony, to have endeavoured to secure the services of a clever London Inspector to fill the vacant post.\n\nOwing however to overweening confidence in his own judgment, combined with obstinacy, he did neither, although it was fully believed by many that the present Governor of the Gaol, a man of great experience, and in every way fitted for the post, would have received the appointment, but his independent manners could not be appreciated by one accustomed to the adulation and flattery of the Mild Africans of the slave coast and Australian Blacks; and, ignoring the requirements and good of the service, and, caring little for public disapproval, he without due consideration, appointed as Superintendent of Police no less a man than an M.A. of Cambridge.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-152 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [9-10].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 309906, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-195 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [1-4]", "page_number": 32, "title": "CO129-195 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [1-4]", "content_text": "( 12 ) \n\n(13) \n\nThe subsoil is broken granite. Even the bricks made of Canton River mud contain iron, though to a lesser extent than the granite. I suggest that an analysis be made of the limestone of the White Mountain Range, near Canton, which, if found sufficiently free from iron, might be imported for our purpose. A good deal of extra work will also devolve upon the Department during several months of the year, in collecting information respecting typhoons.\n\nUsed both for the masonry and the concrete, if not too costly. A fine concrete, of suitable quality, might be made with washed gravel of this island, i.e., the common decomposed granite (taking care to select a coarse, gritty sample), dug from a nullah side, and washed until only the quartz parts remain. This of course would be expensive. I have little doubt, however, that, on careful inquiry, it will be found neither very difficult nor very costly to procure, near at hand or somewhere on the coast, a material that will fulfil all requirements.\n\nThe regular clerical labour will consist mainly of entering the observations and calculations in books and forms for that purpose, transcribing and filing the automatic records, compiling weather changes and storm data, abstracting typhoon-logs, preparing periodical reports, accounts, &c., and general correspondence.\n\nThe Director of the Establishment should be, if possible, someone recommended by the Astronomer-Royal. No one could be more desirable than an ex-assistant of the Royal Observatory, and it is important to bear in mind that the copper articles ought to be of European manufacture, as those made in China contain a large percentage of iron. The Reverend M. DECHREVENS, S.J., director of Zi Ka Wei Observatory, with whom I have entered into correspondence, and to whom I am indebted for some valuable suggestions relating to the Magnetic building, as well as for plans and photographs of his own establishment, is emphatic in his caution on this point, and recommends me \"n'employ pour les portes, les fenêtres, les jonctions, etc., que du cuivre, et autant que possible que des objets de cuivre contiennent une grande proportion de fer. Tout le cuivre qui est entré dans la salle magnétique, et principalement tout ce que nous avons été obligé de faire fabriquer par des ouvriers Chinois, à été essayé au magnétomètre avant d'être accepté, et rejeté invariablement dès qu'il produit sur l'aimant une déviation de quelques minutes d'arc à un pied de distance.\"\n\nHe should have, as First assistant, a practical man, chosen with great care—a man able to observe and compute, acquainted with the mechanical details of the instruments, and competent to execute, or at least direct, any necessary repairs. An assistant of this kind could probably be got from amongst the non-commissioned officers of the Ordnance Survey Companies of the Corps of Royal Engineers, a very valuable body of men. He should receive a salary of $120 per mensem.\n\nTo the Royal Engineers, we may also look for the Second assistant, who should be a good photographer, and be deputed to attend specially to the photographic instruments. Arrangements might, no doubt, be made to procure for him a month's training. He should be paid $75 per mensem.\n\nClerks, of whom two at least will be needed, can be obtained locally. They should be very trustworthy and accurate men. The rest of the employés may be Chinese, namely, a caretaker, to have general charge of the premises; a gardener, for the grounds; coolies, to act as messengers, keep the buildings and premises clean, trim lamps (there being, most unfortunately for the Observatory, gas at Kau-lung), &c.; and night watchmen; also an intelligent man to attend to the Time-Ball, Weather-Signals, and Tide-Gauge at Tsim-shá-tsui, and who should, if possible, be accommodated in the Police Station.\n\nPage 44\n\nThe Barograph, it may also be remarked, must, if possible, have no iron about it, as it will be mounted in the same chamber with the Magnetograph. The instrument-pillars, which should be capped with a slab of slate or marble, may be made from the same material as that of the building itself; but they cannot be built until the instruments themselves, or their exact dimensions, have been received.\n\nFor protection against lightning, a single conductor, carried by a post 25 feet high, erected anywhere near the building, will answer.\n\nFor the Dip-circle, a small pavilion and pier will have to be erected, in a position well removed from the other magnets, such as the ground outside the astronomical building. This, however, as well as the provision, also above ground, to be made for the Unifilar Magnetometer, may be considered later on.\n\nIn the meantime, there will be nothing to prevent the two main buildings from being proceeded with as soon as the working drawings and estimates can be prepared.\n\nIV. Tidal Observations.\n\nThere is one instrument which, though referred to in His Excellency the Governor's despatch already quoted from, has not yet been mentioned in this report, and which might with advantage be added to the outfit, namely, a Tide-gauge, for the purpose of determining the laws of the tides at Hongkong, certain phenomena of which, such as the diurnal and other inequalities, are peculiar and, I believe, but little known or understood. An autographic tide-gauge might be set up in a chamber constructed for the purpose near the Tsim-shá-tsui Police Station, and attended to each day by the man in charge of the Time-Ball and Weather-Signals. Such a gauge, of Sir W. THOMSON's pattern, would cost about £95.\n\nAdmiral RYDER suggested, in 1877, that an automatic Tide-gauge should be set up at Cape D'Aguilar, and placed in charge of the lighthouse-keeper there. This is most desirable, as a means of establishing the direction and rate of the tides, and I recommend that it be carried out unless the engineering difficulties prove too serious, in which case a suitable spot might perhaps be found on or off the headlands nearer to Stanley. A less expensive gauge, of NEWMAN's pattern, and costing about £50, would serve for this station.\n\nV.—Staff.\n\nNotwithstanding that so large a proportion of the various instruments will be of self-registering patterns, the routine work of the observatory will, nevertheless, be very considerable. Even autographic instruments require periodic attention, most of them at least once daily. Time-determinations should be made certainly three or four times a week, and these necessitate a considerable amount of observing by night and computing by day. Frequent periodic magnetic observations for absolute values will also be required, following the routine of the magnetic work at the Greenwich Observatory.\n\nClerks, of whom two at least will be needed, can be obtained locally. They should be very trustworthy and accurate men. The rest of the employés may be Chinese, namely, a caretaker, to have general charge of the premises; a gardener, for the grounds; coolies, to act as messengers, keep the buildings and premises clean, trim lamps (there being, most unfortunately for the Observatory, gas at Kau-lung), &c.; and night watchmen; also an intelligent man to attend to the Time-Ball, Weather-Signals, and Tide-Gauge at Tsim-shá-tsui, and who should, if possible, be accommodated in the Police Station.\n\nVI.—Finance.\n\nIt is now possible to form an idea of the first outlay and the yearly cost of maintenance for the whole establishment as above designed, which probably will not differ much from the following, though the estimates for the buildings can only be considered as approximate, no detailed drawings and calculations having yet been made.\n\n \n Astronomical Apparatus,\n £500\n say\n $2,667\n \n \n Meteorological do.,\n 397\n \n 2,117\n \n \n Magnetical do.,\n 424\n \n 2,262\n \n \n Time-Ball\n 400\n \n 2,133\n \n \n Two Tide-Gauges,\n 145\n \n 773\n \n \n do.,\n 12\n \n 64\n \n \n TWO ROBINSON's Anemometers, for Victoria Peak and Cape D'Aguilar,\n 23\n \n 123\n \n \n Freight and Insurance of the above to Hongkong,\n 100\n \n 533\n \n \n Main Observatory Building and Out-houses, Furniture and Fitments,\n 71\n \n 12,900\n \n \n Magnetic Basement,\n 500\n \n 4,500\n \n \n \n 1,600\n \n 250\n \n \n \n 250\n \n 3,000\n \n \n Expenditure on the Grounds and Approaches, Fencing, &c.,\n 51\n \n \n \n \n Telegraph Line to the Time-Ball, including spare Cable,\n \n say,\n $33,600\n \n \n Connecting Observatory with the Kau-lung-Yau-má-ti Telegraph Line,\n \n \n or £6,300\n \n \n and cost of Speaking-Instrument, &c.,\n \n \n \n \n \n Miscellaneous Erections, as for the Time-Ball, Weather-Signals, Tide-Gauges, Meridian-Mark, and parts of the Meteorological and Mag-netical Apparatus, Lamps, Observing Seats, &c.,\n \n \n \n \n \n Total Prime Cost (Approximate),\n \n \n \n \n\nPage 31", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-195 - Governor Hennessy - 1881 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 310975, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-196 - Public Offices & Others - 1881", "page_number": 557, "title": "CO129-196 - Public Offices & Others - 1881", "content_text": "544\n\n(12)\n\ndient is broken granite. Even the bricks made of Canton River mud contain iron, though to a less extent than the granite. I suggest that an analysis be made of the limestone of the White Mountain Range, near Canton, which, if found sufficiently free from iron, might be imported for our purpose, and used both for the masonry and the concrete, if not too costly. A fine concrete, of suitable quality, might be made with washed gravel of this island, i.e., the common decomposed granite (taking care to select a coarse, gritty sample), dug from a nullah side, and washed until only the quartz particles remain. This of course would be expensive. I have little doubt, however, that, on careful inquiry, it will be found neither very difficult nor very costly to procure, near at hand or somewhere on the coast, a material that will fulfil all requirements.\n\nThe same rule as regards the exclusion of iron must be followed in every detail of construction. All nails, locks, keys, hinges, bolts, hooks, gratings, pipes, &c., should be of copper, brass, or zinc; and it is important to bear in mind that the copper articles ought to be of European manufacture, as those made in China contain a large percentage of iron. The Reverend M. DECHREVENS, S.J., director of the Zi Ka Wei Observatory, with whom I have entered into correspondence, and to whom I am indebted for some valuable suggestions relating to the Magnetic building, as well as for plans and photographs of his own establishment, is emphatic in his caution on this point, and recommends me \"n'employer 'pour les portes, les fenêtres, les jonctions, etc., que du cuivre, et autant que possible que des objets, 'clous, gonds, serrures, charnières, venues d'Europe, ne pas se fier aux Chinois pour cela: tous leurs 'objets de cuivre contiennent une grande proportion de fer. Tout le cuivre qui est entré dans notre des ouvriers 'salle magnétique, et principalement tout ce que nous avons été obligé de faire fabriquer par 'Chinois, à été essayé au magnétomètre avant d'être accepté, et rejeté invariablement dès qu'il produisait 'sur l'aimant une déviation de quelques minutes d'arc à un pied de distance.\"\n\nCL\n\nThe Barograph, it may also be remarked, must, if possible, have no iron about it, as it will be mounted in the same chamber with the Magnetograph. The instrument-pillars, which should be capped with slabs of slate or marble, may be made from the same material as that of the building itself; but they cannot be built until the instruments themselves, or their exact dimensions, have been received.\n\nFor protection against lightning, a single conductor, carried by a post 25 feet high, erected anywhere near the building, will answer.\n\nFor the Dip-circle, a small pavilion and pier will have to be erected, in a position well removed from the other magnets, such as the ground outside the astronomical building. This, however, as well as the provision, also above ground, to be made for the Unifilar Magnetometer, may be considered later on.\n\nIn the meantime, there will be nothing to prevent the two main buildings from being proceeded with as soon as the working drawings and estimates can be prepared.\n\nIV. Tidal Observations.\n\nThere is one instrument which, though referred to in His Excellency the Governor's despatch already quoted from, has not yet been mentioned in this report, and which might with advantage be added to the outfit, namely, a Tide-gauge, for the purpose of determining the laws of the tides at Hongkong, certain phenomena of which, such as the diurnal and other inequalities, are peculiar and, I believe, but little known or understood. An autographic tide-gauge might be set up in a chamber constructed for the purpose near the Tsim-shá-tsui Police Station, and attended to each day by the man in charge of the Time-Ball and Weather-Signals. Such a gauge, of Sir W. THOMSON'S pattern, would cost about £95.\n\nAdmiral RYDER suggested, in 1877, that an automatic Tide-gauge should be set up at Cape D'Aguilar, and placed in charge of the lighthouse-keeper there. This is most desirable, as a means of establishing the direction and rate of the tides, and I recommend that it be carried out unless the engineering difficulties prove too serious, in which case a suitable spot might perhaps be found on one of the headlands nearer to Stanley. A less expensive gauge, of NEWMAN's pattern, and costing about £50, would serve for this station.\n\nV. Staff.\n\nNotwithstanding that so large a proportion of the various instruments will be of self-registering patterns, the routine work of the observatory will, nevertheless, be very considerable. Even autographic instruments require periodic attention, most of them at least once daily. Time-determinations should be made certainly three or four times a week, and these necessitate a considerable amount of observing by night and computing by day. Frequent periodic magnetic observations for absolute values, which are tedious, difficult and highly complicated, will also have to be made and computed. Constant attention must be given to the adjustments of the extensive and miscellaneous apparatus, to winding and regulating clocks, ascertaining the errors of the instruments, and keeping all clean and in good order.\n\nA good deal of extra work will also devolve upon the Department during several months of the year, in collecting information respecting typhoons.\n\nThe regular clerical labour will consist mainly of entering the observations and calculations in the books and forms for that purpose, transcribing and filing the automatic records, compiling weather exchanges and storm data, abstracting typhoon-logs, preparing periodical reports, accounts, &c., and general correspondence.\n\nThe Director of the Establishment should be, if possible, some one recommended by the Astronomer-Royal. No one could be more desirable than an ex-assistant of the Royal Observatory. I do not think we can expect to get a competent person for less than $300 per mensem. He should have, as First assistant, a practical man, chosen with great care—a man able to observe and compute, acquainted with the mechanical details of the instruments, and competent to execute, or at least direct, ordinary repairs. An assistant of this kind could probably be got from amongst the non-commissioned officers of the Ordnance Survey Companies of the Corps of Royal Engineers, a very valuable body of men. He should receive a salary of $120 per mensem. To the Royal Engineers we may also look for the Second assistant, who should be a good photographer, and be deputed to attend specially to the Magnetic instruments. Arrangements might, no doubt, be made to procure for him a month's training at the Greenwich Observatory in the routine of the magnetic work. He might be paid $75 per mensem.\n\nClerks, of whom two at least will be needed, can be obtained locally. They should be very trustworthy and accurate men. The rest of the employés may be Chinese, namely, a caretaker, to have general charge of the premises; a gardener, for the grounds; coolies, to act as messengers, keep the buildings and premises clean, trim lamps (there being, most unfortunately for the Observatory, no gas at Kau-lung), &c.; and night watchmen; also an intelligent man to attend to the Time-Ball, Weather-Signals and Tide-Gauge at Tsim-sha-tsui, and who should, if possible, be accommodated in the Police Station.\n\nVI. Finance.\n\nIt is now possible to form an idea of the first outlay and the yearly cost of maintenance for the whole establishment as above designed, which probably will not differ much from the following, though the estimates for the buildings can only be considered as approximate, no detailed drawings and calculations having yet been made.\n\nAstronomical Apparatus, £500 say $2,667\n\nMeteorological do., 397 2,117\n\nMagnetical do., 424 2,262\n\nTime-Ball do., 400 2,133\n\nTwo Tide-Gauges, 145 773\n\nTwo ROBINSON's Anemometers, for Victoria Peak and Cape D'Aguilar, \" 12 64\n\nFreight and Insurance of the above to Hongkong, 100 533\n\nMain Observatory Building and Out-houses, Furniture and Fitments, 12,900\n\nMagnetic Basement, 500\n\nConnecting Observatory with the Kau-lung- Expenditure on the Grounds and Approaches, Fencing, &c., Telegraph Line to the Time-Ball, including 4,500\n\nCable, say, 1,600\n\nand cost of Speaking-Instrument, &c., Miscellaneous Erections, as for the Time-Ball, Weather-Signals, Tide-Gauges, Meridian-Mark, and parts of the Meteorological and Magnetic Apparatus, 250\n\nan-má-ti Telegraph Line, 250\n\nLamps, Observing Seats, &c., 3,000\n\nTotal Prime Cost (Approximate), $83,600 or £6,300\n\n(13)", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-196 - Public Offices & Others - 1881.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 340457, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-243 - Public Offices & Others - 1889", "page_number": 186, "title": "CO129-243 - Public Offices & Others - 1889", "content_text": "# Defence of Colonies, Naval and Military\n\n1. THE Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have discussed a letter which is now before the Secretary of State the question of the military contribution to be asked from the Straits Settlements. In the present letter they will express their opinion upon the contribution which the Colony of Hong Kong may fairly be expected to make towards the cost of its defence.\n\n2. The defence of the Colonies is entrusted to two forces—the Navy and the Army. Hitherto the British taxpayer has defrayed unaided the whole cost of the Navy. The altered conditions of naval warfare, however, have added and are adding so much to the cost of naval defence that the question must arise hereafter whether the prosperous settlements which are members of the Empire should not contribute in reasonable proportion to the cost of a service so essential to their security. The Australian Colonies have indeed anticipated the question, so far as they are concerned, by offering spontaneously a liberal subsidy towards the provision and maintenance of the ships required in their waters. The Imperial Government undertakes alone the cost of the service in other quarters, and their Lordships mention the subject here, not because they are about to ask a naval contribution from Hong Kong, but because the Colonial Office and Colonial Governments are apt to forget or overlook the heavy charge which the Imperial Government incurs in providing for the naval defence of the Colonies, and to take it for granted that the Colonies can only be asked for a proportion, and as the Colonial Office contends, a very moderate proportion of the cost of military defence.\n\n## The Garrison of Hong Kong\n\n3. Hong Kong became a Colony in 1844. During the first 14 years of its existence as a Colony it cost the Imperial Exchequer £273,000 for its civil establishment, exclusive of any sum spent during that period on naval and military protection. It became self-supporting so far as the Civil Government was concerned in 1859. About this time the Imperial Government found it necessary to increase largely the Imperial Military and Naval Estimates. In 1861 attention was directed to the subject of Colonial Military Expenditure, and a Committee of the House of Commons was directed to inquire whether the most wealthy and important Colonies might not, with due regard to justice and to their own interests, defray a larger proportion of the cost of their military defence than up to that time had been laid to their charge.\n\n4. The Committee advised that those Colonies which more particularly imposed a burden upon the Imperial Exchequer for military defence should be required to increase considerably their contributions towards that object, if the state of their revenues would justify the additional charge. The revenue of Hong Kong averaged for the years 1860, 1861, 1862 rather more than £117,000, and the Duke of Newcastle, in disregard of the urgent remonstrances and despairing predictions of the then Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson), of the Colonial authorities, and of the community itself, required a military contribution of £20,000, equivalent to rather more than one-sixth of the entire revenue, the garrison being then estimated at 1,000 men of all ranks, costing £100,000 a year. The Duke of Newcastle intended that the contribution should remain in force for five years, and should then be subject to such revision as the altered circumstances of the Colony might require.\n\nDespatch of 2nd April 1863, paragraph 14.\n\n**NOTE.** It should be noted that reference is made in the letter to two separate Committees which have reported on subjects connected with the Military Defence of the Colonies.\n1. A Committee on Colonial Military Defence.\n2. A Committee on Colonial Military Contributions, over which Sir A. Haliburton presided.\n\nA 59784, 50 & 2 & 2.--9/89. G. 51. Wt. 9085. E. & S. \n**Colonial Office** \n**State**", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-243 - Public Offices & Others - 1889.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 344449, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-248 - Public Offices & Others - 1890", "page_number": 447, "title": "CO129-248 - Public Offices & Others - 1890", "content_text": "446\n\n14\n\nsale of property), but Sir A. Haliburton's Committee say that this estimate may be exceeded. These two sums together come to 262,000£.\n\n\"It is proposed, as my Lords understand the proposal, that the Imperial Government shall sell land it now holds, valued at about 125,000£, to the colony, that this money shall be applied towards the new barracks, reducing their net cost to about 137,000£; that the Imperial Government shall pay two-thirds of the charge, or about 92,000£, and that the Colonial Government shall pay the balance, or about 46,000£, providing also sites for the new barracks on Crown lands. The proposal therefore means that the Imperial Government should give up sites worth 125,000£ and spend 92,000£ in cash; that the colony should find new sites on Crown lands, and should spend 46,000£ in cash, in addition to the value of the lands they purchase from the War Department.\"\n\n4279\n\nI am to refer you to the War Office letter of this day's date, Hong Kong 2, in reply to the Treasury letter of the 12th October, raising some of the points alluded to in this letter.\n\nThe only other point raised in the Treasury letter of the 12th ultimo is in regard to the provision of the first outfit of furniture, and in regard to that query I am to state that all fixed barrack furniture will be included in the cost of providing the barracks, and that movable furniture, such as bedsteads, tables, brushes, &c., is not included therein, but is provided for in the general estimate of the cost of the garrison, which formed the basis on which the annual contribution to be paid by the colony was fixed.\n\nI have, &c.,\n\nThe Secretary to the Treasury, S.W.\n\nSir,\n\n40248\n\n154\n\nW. ST. JOHN BRODRICK.\n\nColonial Office to War Office.\n\nColonial Office, Downing Street,\n\n17th October 1889.\n\nI am directed by Lord Knutsford to transmit to you, to be laid before the Secretary of State for War, copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Treasury respecting the Hong Kong military contribution, in reply to their letter of the 28th of September, which is understood to have been communicated to the War Office.\n\nLord Knutsford would be obliged if he can be informed whether a more complete estimate has yet been made of the cost of the new barracks, and generally to be informed of the position in which the question of their construction now stands. His Lordship would also observe that whatever estimate is finally made must necessarily form the basis of the demand upon the colony, for it cannot be expected that the colony will consent to provide more than the sum which is first asked for, or to allow that sum to be increased at the will of the military authorities, in whose arrangements it will have no voice or control.\n\nThe Under Secretary of State,\n\nWar Office,\n\nI am, &c.,\n\nJOHN BRAMSTON.\n\nCOPY of enclosure with Colonial Office letter of 17th October 1889 to the War Office.\n\nSir,\n\nColonial Office to Treasury.\n\nDowning Street,\n\n17th October 1889.\n\n13191\n\nI am directed by Lord Knutsford to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 88 of the 28th of September, respecting the Hong Kong military contributions, in which their Lordships state that they are prepared to accept for two years the contribution of 40,000£ a-year, which was the annual sum recommended by the Committee, and accepted by the Secretary of State.\n\n2. I am, however, to request you to recall their Lordships' attention to your letter of the 10th of August, relating to the Straits contribution, in which their Lordships state that, so far as the two colonies of the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong are concerned, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for War, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, have in conference arrived at an understanding\n\n* The portion of this letter relating to barracks is marginally noted by a black line.\n\n15\n\nupon the amount of contribution to be paid in this and the next three or four years. This concurs with Lord Knutsford's recollection of what passed at the conference, and he is not, therefore, prepared to agree that the payment by the colony of 40,000£ a-year should be demanded for less than the five years, commencing from the 1st January 1889, recommended by the Committee and accepted at the conference on the 3rd of June.\n\n3. As regards the barracks, his Lordship is enquiring from the War Office whether any more definite estimate of cost has been prepared since July 1888, when the Committee made their report, and a further communication will be addressed to you on the subject.\n\n4. Lord Knutsford has referred to the Report of the Select Committee of 1861 on Colonial Military Expenditure, and observes that it was instructed to enquire and report whether any and what alterations may be advantageously adopted in regard to the defence of the British Dependencies and the proportions of cost of such defence as now defrayed from Imperial and Colonial Funds respectively.\" It does not appear that the Committee, as stated in the 3rd paragraph of their Lordships' letter, \"was directed to inquire whether the most wealthy and important colonies might not, with due regard to justice and to their own interests, defray a larger proportion of the cost of their military defence than up to that time had been laid to their charge.\" This passage found in a letter of 25th April 1863, from Mr. Elliott, of this department, to Sir Hercules Robinson, who was then in England, summarising the nature of the enquiry. The next sentence which their Lordships quote, as the advice of the Committee, is taken from the same letter.\n\n5. As far as concerns Hong Kong, the report begins by classing it among \"military garrisons, naval stations, convict depôts, and dependencies maintained chiefly for objects of Imperial policy,\" and in the 9th paragraph the report states that \"as to the second class of dependencies above defined (i.e., military garrisons, naval stations, &c.), the responsibility and main cost of their defences properly devolved on the Imperial Government.\"\n\n6. This principle will be seen to run through the correspondence between the Duke of Newcastle and the Governor respecting the contribution of 20,000£ a-year, and although their Lordships, in the 12th paragraph of their letter, \"demur to this assumption,\" the position, in the opinion of Lord Knutsford, holds equally true at the present time.\n\n7. The Imperial Government has the control of peace and war, and has decided that Hong Kong must be defended with powerful forts and held by a garrison costing 280,000£ a-year. It cannot be supposed that in fixing this garrison Her Majesty's Government was specially concerned for the safety of the alien Chinese who frequent the colony, or even of the British merchants who have established themselves there, and there can be no doubt that the colony has been selected as a coaling station solely on account of its harbour. This harbour is of great value to the Empire, apart from the welfare of the people living on its shores, and the real ground for defending Hong Kong is its importance as a naval station where Her Majesty's ships may refit and where they may obtain coal necessary to keep the sea and protect the British shipping engaged in the trade between the mother country and the Empires of China and Japan - a trade which is mainly independent of Hong Kong, and which is carried on for the benefit of the mother country and the British taxpayer. Hong Kong is also defended in order that its harbour may not fall into the hands of a foreign enemy, and be used as a naval base from which to destroy the ships owned in the mother country, and engaged in carrying on this trade with the East. And as a guarantee against such a misfortune its increased strength and additional garrison are demanded by the increasing strength of Russia at Vladivostock, and by the presence of large French forces in Tonquin and Cochin China.\n\n8. Lord Knutsford agrees with their Lordships that comparison between the sums expended by different countries on certain services is always difficult, and in the present case the comparison seems misleading, for the countries to which their Lordships refer in the 21st paragraph of their letter, are Sovereign States, whose defences are maintained solely for the protection of those interests which they themselves administer. But Hong Kong, as Mr. Stanhope pointed out in the War Office memorandum of the 15th of December last, produces nothing, and it seems impossible to make any satisfactory comparison between the tax-paying capacity of its mixed population and that of the population of producing countries such as their Lordships refer to.\n\n9. Nor is there any real analogy between the circumstances of Hong Kong and of the Australian Colonies to which their Lordships refer. These great dependencies are concerned only for the defence of themselves and of their own trade and produce, and their contributions to the Navy are required for the protection of the very considerable", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-248 - Public Offices & Others - 1890.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 347738, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891", "page_number": 180, "title": "CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891", "content_text": "## Treasury to Colonial Office\n\n### Treasury Chambers, 28th September, 1889\n\n1. The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have discussed in a letter which is now before the Secretary of State the question of the Military Contribution to be asked from the Straits Settlements. In the present letter they will express their opinion upon the contribution which the Colony of Hong Kong may fairly be expected to make towards the cost of its defence.\n\n### Defence of Colonies, Naval and Military\n\n2. The defence of the Colonies is entrusted to two forces: the Navy and the Army. Hitherto the British taxpayer has defrayed unaided the whole cost of the Navy. The altered conditions of naval warfare, however, have added, and are adding, so much to the cost of naval defence that the question must arise hereafter whether the prosperous settlements which are members of the Empire should not contribute in reasonable proportion to the cost of a service so essential to their security. The Australian Colonies have indeed anticipated the question, so far as they are concerned, by offering spontaneously a liberal subsidy towards the provision and maintenance of the ships required in their waters. The Imperial Government undertakes alone the cost of the service in other quarters, and my Lords mention the subject here, not because they are about to ask a Naval Contribution from Hong Kong, but because the Colonial Office and Colonial Governments are apt to forget or overlook the heavy charge which the Imperial Government incurs in providing for the naval defence of the Colonies, and to take it for granted that the Colonies can only be asked for a proportion, and, as the Colonial Office contends, a very moderate proportion, of the cost of military defence.\n\n### The Garrison of Hong Kong\n\n3. Hong Kong became a Colony in 1844. During the first 14 years of its existence as a Colony, it cost the Imperial Exchequer £273,000 for its civil establishment, exclusive of any sum spent during that period on naval and military protection. It became self-supporting, so far as the civil government was concerned, in 1859. About this time the Imperial Government found it necessary to increase largely the Imperial Military and Naval Estimates. In 1861 attention was directed to the subject of Colonial Military Expenditure, and a Committee of the House of Commons was directed to enquire whether the most wealthy and important Colonies might not, with due regard to justice and to their own interests, defray a larger proportion of the cost of their military defence than up to that time had been laid to their charge.\n\n4. The revenue of Hong Kong averaged for the years 1860, 1861, 1862, rather more than £117,000, and the Duke of Newcastle, in disregard of the urgent remonstrances and despairing predictions of the then Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson), of the Colonial authorities, and of the community itself, required a Military Contribution of £20,000, equivalent to rather more than one-sixth of the entire revenue, the garrison being then estimated at 1,000 men of all ranks, costing £100,000 a-year. The Duke of Newcastle intended that the contribution should remain in force for five years, and should then be subject to such revision as the altered circumstances of the Colony might require. It is clear that his Grace contemplated an increase of the contribution at the end of the five years, for he said that he desired, in fixing the amount at £20,000, not to press too heavily at first upon the Colonial revenues, and the Governor of Hong Kong himself interpreted this passage as meaning that the contribution was to be raised to a higher rate at a future occasion.\n\n5. Changes, however, occurred in the post of Secretary of State, and at the expiration of the five years, the intention of the Duke of Newcastle appears to have been forgotten. The contribution remained unchanged, and nothing more was heard upon the subject until 1884, when the Secretary of State for War wrote to the Colonial Office that the Military Contribution paid by the Colony would have to be reconsidered with reference to the proposed increase of the garrison. No action followed this intimation, and revision of the existing arrangements was not undertaken until the Committee on Colonial Military Contributions, consisting of Sir Arthur Haliburton, Mr. Bramston, and Mr. Ryder, made their report on Hong Kong in July, 1888—three and twenty years after the actual imposition of the contribution which the Duke of Newcastle had demanded in 1863. The Committee on Colonial Military Contributions have, in the case of Hong Kong, as in that of Singapore, discharged thoroughly the task entrusted to them. They have put before Her Majesty's Government the facts of the case in compact and intelligible form, and the Treasury, the War Office, and the Colonial Office are now fully informed of the intentions of those who fixed the present contribution, and of the financial progress of the Colony during the intervening period.\n\n6. My Lords have stated that the contribution of £20,000, as originally fixed, represented about one-sixth or one-seventh of the revenue of the Colony, and one-fifth of the military charge of the Colony defrayed by the Imperial Exchequer. In the intervening time the garrison has risen to 1,445 men of all ranks, exclusive of volunteers, the cost to the Imperial Exchequer rising from £100,000 to £160,000 a-year. The Colonial Defence Committee now recommend that the garrison of the future shall consist of 2,525 Imperial troops of all ranks, and of 493 local regulars, or 3,018 in all, costing about £280,000 a-year. If the total net estimated cost of the British Army for 1889-90 be divided by the number of men on the Home and Colonial establishments, exclusive of India (£17,000,000 by 152,000 men), the result gives £111 per man, and the corresponding cost of 3,000 men would be £333,000. Sir A. Haliburton's Committee exclude from their computation Militia and Volunteers, costing approximately £3,000 a-year.\n\n7. The Committee further point out that the revenue of the Colony has risen since 1863 from an average of 568,000 dollars to 1,638,000 dollars, the amount as estimated for 1888. They reckon that after allowing for the loss which attends the discharge by silver-using communities of obligations payable in gold, the proportion of the Military Contribution to the revenue of the Colony is only 8 per cent., or one-half of the proportion which the contribution bore to the revenue in 1863.\n\n8. My Lords observe that the Colonial Office has not in the case of Hong Kong, as in that of the Straits, indirectly reduced the Military Contribution by allowing the Colony to pay a sterling debt in silver at an obsolete rate.\n\n### Works and Buildings\n\n9. Sir A. Haliburton's Committee state when the defence of Hong Kong was under consideration in 1883-84, it was contemplated that the whole cost of the project, estimated at £100,000, should be defrayed by the Colony. The Imperial Government has, however, subsequently decided that the Colony should provide the works, and the Imperial Government the armament. According to the first estimate framed upon this basis, 60 per cent. of the expenditure would fall upon the Colonial, 40 per cent. upon the Imperial Exchequer. As the estimate now stands, 35 per cent. only will fall upon the Colonial, and 65 per cent. upon the Imperial Exchequer, the sums being respectively £116,000 and £209,000. My Lords cannot but observe that in this case, as in that of Singapore, the estimates upon which the Treasury gave its assent to the principle of partition, have been absolutely misleading. The War Office proposed by their estimate to throw the larger part of the defensive works on the Colony in the proportion of three to two. In effect, this proportion has been more than reversed. My Lords do not presume to criticize the principle upon which the estimate was based; they are willing to believe that error was unavoidable, but it is unfortunate that the errors in such cases should be always against the British taxpayer. They may at least plead that, had they not been misled by these erroneous estimates, they would to the best of their power have insisted upon a more equitable basis of partition. But the War Office does not even carry out its own rule of division, for it proposes to charge upon the British taxpayer the cost of submarine mining (about £9,000) works, merely because the whole item of submarine mining had been omitted from the original estimate. It appears to my Lords neither logical nor equitable to punish the British taxpayer because the science of submarine mining was undeveloped at the time when the original estimate was framed.\n\n### Barracks\n\n10. It will be necessary to provide additional barracks at Hong Kong for double the existing garrison. The rough and preliminary estimate of cost is £212,000, apart...\n\nPage 180\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 347741, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891", "page_number": 183, "title": "CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891", "content_text": "## \nwhich their Lordships state that they are prepared to accept for two years the contribution of £40,000 a-year, which was the annual sum recommended by the Committee, and accepted by the Secretary of State.\n\n2. I am, however, to request you to recall their Lordships' attention to your letter of the 10th of August, relating to the Straits Contribution, in which their Lordships state, that so far as the two Colonies of the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong are concerned, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for War, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies have in conference arrived at an understanding upon the amount of contribution to be paid in this and the next three or four years. This concurs with Lord Knutsford's recollection of what passed at the conference, and he is not therefore prepared to agree that the payment by the Colony of £40,000 a-year should be demanded for less than the five years, commencing from 1st January, 1889, recommended by the Committee, and accepted at the conference on the 3rd of June.\n\n3. As regards the barracks, his Lordship is enquiring from the War Office whether any more definite estimate of cost has been prepared since July, 1888, when the Committee made their report; and a further communication will be addressed to you on the subject.\n\n4. Lord Knutsford has referred to the Report of the Select Committee of 1861 on Colonial Military Expenditure, and observes that it was instructed to enquire and report whether any and what alterations may be advantageously adopted in regard to the defence of the British dependencies, and the proportions of cost of such defence as now defrayed from Imperial and Colonial Funds respectively. It does not appear that the Committee, as stated in the 3rd paragraph of their Lordships' letter, was directed to enquire whether the most wealthy and important Colonies might not, with due regard to justice and to their own interests, defray a larger proportion of the cost of their military defence than up to that time had been laid to their charge. This passage is found in a letter of 25th April, 1863, from Mr. Elliott, of this department, to Sir Hercules Robinson, who was then in England, summarizing the nature of the enquiry. The next sentence which their Lordships quote as the advice of the Committee is taken from the same letter.\n\n5. As far as concerns Hong Kong, the report begins by classing it among \"military garrisons, naval stations, convict depots, and dependencies maintained chiefly for objects of Imperial policy,\" and in the 9th paragraph the report states that, \"as to the second class of dependencies above defined (i.e., military garrisons, naval stations, &c.) the responsibility and main cost of their defences properly devolves on the Imperial Government.\"\n\n6. This principle will be seen to run through the correspondence between the Duke of Newcastle and the Governor respecting the contribution of £20,000 a-year, and although their Lordships, in the 12th paragraph of their letter, demur to this assumption, the position, in the opinion of Lord Knutsford, holds equally true at the present time.\n\n7. The Imperial Government has the control of peace and war, and has decided that Hong Kong must be defended with powerful forts and held by a garrison costing £280,000 a-year. It cannot be supposed that in fixing this garrison Her Majesty's Government was specially concerned for the safety of the alien Chinese who frequent the Colony, or even of the British merchants who have established themselves there; and there can be no doubt that the Colony has been selected as a coaling station, solely on account of its harbour. This harbour is of great value to the Empire, apart from the welfare of the people living on its shores; and the real ground for defending Hong Kong is its importance as a naval station, where Her Majesty's ships may refit, and where they may obtain coal necessary to keep the sea and protect the British shipping engaged in the trade between the mother country and the Empires of China and Japan: a trade which is mainly independent of Hong Kong, and which is carried on for the benefit of the other country and the British taxpayer. Hong Kong is also defended in order that its harbour may not fall into the hands of a foreign enemy, and be used as a naval base from which to destroy the ships owned in the mother country and engaged in carrying on this trade with the East. And as a guarantee against such a misfortune, its increased strength and additional garrison are demanded by the increasing strength of Russia at Vladivostock, and by the presence of large French forces in Tonquin and Cochin China.\n\n8. Lord Knutsford agrees with their Lordships that comparison between the sums expended by different countries on certain services is always difficult, and in the present case the comparison seems misleading; for the countries to which their Lordships refer in the 21st paragraph of their letter are Sovereign States, whose defences are maintained solely for the protection of these interests which they themselves administer. But Hong Kong, as Mr. Stanhope pointed out in the War Office memorandum of the 15th December last, `...` produces nothing; and it seems impossible to make any satisfactory comparison between the taxpaying capacity of its mixed population and that of the populations of producing countries such as their Lordships refer to.\n\n9. Nor is there any real analogy between the circumstances of Hong Kong and of the Australian Colonies to which their Lordships refer. These great dependencies are concerned only for the defence of themselves and of their own trade and produce, and their contributions to the Navy are required for the protection of the very considerable trade between their own ports, and from those ports to the mother country. These ports differ, therefore, from those of Hong Kong and Singapore in so far as they are not merely naval bases and harbours of refuge for the trade which passes them in its transit between the United Kingdom and foreign countries.\n\n10. Unless this distinction is kept well in view, no proper and fair consideration will be given to the conditions which govern the defence of these Eastern coaling stations. It is, of course, reasonable and just that the mercantile community and alien inhabitants of Singapore and Hong Kong should bear their full share of the cost of protecting the ports in which they carry on their business, and of the security which they enjoy. The amount which they should contribute is a subject for careful examination and discussion; but, as regards Hong Kong, Lord Knutsford must observe that the discussion was closed for the present by the conference of himself and his colleagues, when the contribution was fixed for five years at £40,000 a-year.\n\n## MILITARY CONTRIBUTIONS.-HONG KONG\n\nThe principle that Colonies should contribute to their defence to the utmost extent that their means will permit is fully concurred in.\n\nThis principle was recognized by the Select Committee of 1884 on Military Establishments and Expenditure in the Colonies. It recommended that the strictest economy should be observed in every branch of the military expenditure of the Colonies, and that any surplus revenue that may remain after defraying their civil expenses should, in accordance with the regulations which have been adopted by the Ordnance and Colonial Departments, be applied to the payment of their military charges.\n\nThe Select Committee on Colonial Military Expenditure of 1881 took the same view, but gave it more definite expression. It divided the Colonies into two classes-\n\n1. Those, the main cost of whose defence should fall on Imperial revenues,\n2. Those, the main cost of whose defence should devolve upon themselves.\n\nThe second recommendation was qualified by the statement that the practical application of such recommendations, both as to time and place, must necessarily be left to the discretion of Her Majesty's Government, having regard to the local resources of each dependency, to its dangers from external attack, and to the general exigencies of the Empire.\n\nThe Committee included Hong Kong in the first category and Mauritius in the second. Immediately after the report of the Committee of 1861, the contributions to be made by three dependencies came under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, viz., Singapore, Mauritius, Hong Kong. In the case of Singapore, the Government insisted on it paying the full cost of the garrison necessary for its defence, and refused to take it over from India until that condition was accepted.\n\n| Colony | Original Contribution | Revised Contribution | Percentage of Garrison Cost | Percentage of Revenue |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Singapore | ... | full cost | 100% | ... |\n| Mauritius | £33,000 | £45,000 | 36% | 10% |\n| Hong Kong | £0 | £20,000 | 20% | 16.4% |\n\nIt increased the Mauritius contribution from about £33,000 to £45,000 a-year, making it about 36 per cent of the estimated cost of its garrison, and about 10 per cent of its revenue.\n\nIn the case of Hong Kong, which up to that time had contributed nothing towards its defence, it imposed a contribution of £20,000 a-year, or about 20 per cent of the cost of its garrison, and 16.4 per cent of its revenue. In both cases it was estimated that the contribution would be subsequently increased.\n\nLooking to the fact that the proportion of charge imposed in each of these cases differed, it seems evident that although the Government of the day had the principle laid down by the Committee of 1861 in view, it had regard in its application to the local resources of each dependency, to its dangers from external attack, and to the general exigencies of the Empire.\n\nIt would probably be found impracticable to take any one Colony and make the contribution found suitable to its conditions the standard for fixing the contributions of other dependencies. No hard or fast rule can be laid down applicable to all defended Colonies, and each must be dealt with on its own merits.\n\nThe comparative statements of revenue and military expenditure in Hong Kong, and in the United Kingdom and other countries, contained in the memorandum of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, are based upon figures which omit items essential to a correct comparison.\n\nThe revenue of Hong Kong includes all its resources from both rates and taxes, and covers its total expenditure, general and local, but it has been compared with only that part of the revenue of the United Kingdom which provides what may be called the Imperial expenditure, omitting entirely the local revenues derived from rates and other local taxes. At the same time, the military expenditure incurred by Hong Kong has been largely underestimated.\n\nThe following is the corrected data on which the comparative statements may be recast: During the five years ending 1888, the military expenditure of Hong Kong, including its expenditure (£116,000) on defence works, and on local forces, amounted to an annual average of £48,700.\n\nDuring the same period, its average annual revenue amounted to £235,883 sterling, and its average population to about 184,000.\n\nTaking the defence expenditure of the United Kingdom at £29,800,000, and its Imperial revenue at £86,800,000, as given in the Chancellor's memorandum, and adding to the latter...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-253 - Public Offices & Others - 1891.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 348653, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "page_number": 386, "title": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "content_text": "# MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.\n\nEnglish instructress. The Government immediately placed one of the houses in Albany Terrace at the disposal of the Committee, and the Diocesan School was forthwith temporarily located there under Miss Wilson.\n\n## 1860\n\nIt is not a little remarkable that, immediately upon the revival of educational activity among the Protestant Missions, which characterized the close of the preceding year, the educational movement among the Catholic Missions also made a fresh start in the year 1860, displaying a sudden and quite extraordinary energy. The R.C. Society de Propaganda Fide commenced, in September 1860, an English Boys School in Staunton Street, under a Mr. Rowland, who had an average of 25 boys under instruction, at a cost of $960 to the Mission. This institution furnishes the first recorded example of a School enjoying exemption from payment of police and lighting taxes. The Propaganda Society started at the same time a Portuguese Boys School, in Staunton Street, under the tuition of Mr. Vincento Pereira, at a cost of $600. This School, likewise exempted from payment of rates and taxes, was attended by 35 Portuguese boys. To provide for Chinese Catholic youths, the same Society now re-opened also a Chinese Boys School in Wellington Street, taught by Jacobus Leang, and attended by 30 boys, at a cost of $141. In May, 1860, the Italian Sisters of the Convent in Caine Road started (with the assistance of Miss Bowring) three Girls' Schools in Caine Road at an expense of $2,400, viz., an English Girls School with 22 girls under Sister Aloysia, a Portuguese Girls School with 32 girls under Sister Giovannina, and a Chinese Girls School with 30 girls under Sisters Rachèle and Magdalena Fan, and further the Italian Sisters started in Spring Gardens (Queen's Road East) a Chinese Girls School with 22 girls under Sister Cecilia Leang, the latter School costing the Italian Mission $144. The French Sisters, of the Asile de la Sainte Enfance in Spring Gardens, also revived now their former Schools, viz., a Chinese Girls' School, bringing together 30 children under the instruction of Sister Benjamin, and a Chinese Boys' School with 14 boys under Mr. Joseph Lee. These two Schools cost the French Mission $384. The two Seminaries, formerly established, were now likewise revived. The Italian Mission re-opened their Seminary now in Pottinger Street, placing 12 students under the tuition of Fathers T. Raimondi (the present Bishop), J. Borgazzi, and G. Favini, and giving them a theological training in Latin, at an expense to the Propaganda Society of $600. The French Mission des Étrangères, at the same time re-opened their Ecclesiastical School at Soo-koup-ed under Père J. Jacquemin, with 20 students, at a cost of $840. Moreover, the Propaganda Society opened a Chinese School at Aberdeen, under Mr. Stephanus Chu, at a cost of $96.\n\nThis extraordinary revival of the Roman Catholic educational movement, though stimulated no doubt by the reviving energy of the Protestant Mission, is, however, principally due to the educational zeal and energy which ever distinguished the newly arrived Father (since Bishop) Raimondi, who at once occupied among Catholic Educationists about the same prominent and fruitful position which Dr. Legge, whom he much resembled also in character and shrewdness, occupied among the Protestants. Bishop Raimondi, however, has remained at the head of Catholic education ever since his arrival (in 1858), whilst Dr. Legge retired from the scene a few years after the establishment of his chef d'oeuvre in education, the Government Central School, which at this very time Dr. Legge had already designed in outline.\n\nAt the beginning of the year 1860 (January 21st), the Government Gazette announced the formation of a new and stronger **Board of Education** for the management of the Government Schools. We have no records showing how Dr. Legge's objections were overcome, but Dr. Legge did join this new Board, although the presidency of it was placed in the hands of Bishop Smith. The probability is that Dr. Legge had reason to expect that Sir Hercules Robinson, the new Governor, would eventually support his scheme of an entire re-organisation of the Government Schools. The other members of the new Board were the Rev. J.J. Irwin, Rev. W. Beach, and Messrs. J.J. Mackenzie, W.C. Robinson, and W.S. Bridges (Secretary). In a letter addressed to Bishop Smith, the Colonial Secretary defined the powers of the Board as including, besides the general supervision and control of all Government Schools throughout the Island, the appointment, transfer, suspension, and dismissal of Schoolmasters and the fixing of their salaries. The meetings of the Board were to be held in the Council-room. The Board were to appoint their own Secretary, but the appointment of the Inspector of Schools was to rest with the Governor. The Inspector was to report to the Board, but both he and the teachers had an appeal to the Governor. The proceedings of the Board, which were at all times to be subject to the veto of the Governor, were to be regularly reported to the Colonial Secretary. At the first meeting of this new Board (24th January, 1860), Mr. Lobscheid tendered his resignation, and the Board, after communicating with the Governor, was at once requested to recommend a successor. But at their next meeting (7th February, 1860), the Board, on receiving from Mr. Lobscheid a promise to recognize the Board's supreme authority, recommended that Mr. Lobscheid be re-appointed from 1st February. Mr. Lobscheid resumed his labours and continued them, though not without some friction, until the end of June, when he resigned finally, and the Board recommended that his resignation be accepted, but made no suggestion as to the appointment of a successor. The reason was that Dr. Legge now had matured his new scheme of merging the Inspectorate of Schools in the Headmastership of a grand Central School, which was to become the centre of the whole educational movement of Hongkong and to deliver the Government Schools from the bondage of St. Paul's College and its Bishop. Immediately after the Inspector's resignation had taken effect (1st July, 1860), Dr. Legge orally explained at a meeting of the Board (3rd July, 1860) his plan for the establishment of a Central School in the City of Victoria, to combine several at present separate Schools, involving an increase of expenditure estimated at £250. The Board at once resolved that Dr. Legge should be invited to reduce his plan to writing, and on 6th September, 1860, the Board, having received a written statement of what was henceforth popularly known as 'Dr. Legge's Plan,' unanimously resolved that Dr. Legge's suggestions be approved and that the document be forwarded to the Colonial Secretary for submission to the Governor with their cordial recommendation and an earnest request for pecuniary aid in carrying out the Plan. It may be noted, as explaining the easy success which Dr. Legge gained in the Board, that from after 24th January, 1860, until 7th January, 1862, Bishop Smith (being probably absent from the Colony) did not attend a single meeting of the Board of which he had been nominated President on 20th January, 1860. Dr. Legge, with his force of character and superiority of scholastic knowledge, practically ruled the Board with the ease and grace of a born Bishop. His Great Plan was subsequently condensed by himself in the following statements: (1) that several of the Schools should be collected in one large Central Institution where there should be accommodation for 400 pupils who should be taught their own language and the rudiments of English as hitherto; (2) that, instead of an Inspector, the Institution should be under the charge of a Headmaster who should reside in it and have all the native masters immediately under his eye; (3) that from the pupils who were taught English, the Headmaster should...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 348654, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "page_number": 387, "title": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "content_text": "# MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.\n\nform classes to receive a thorough English training from himself; (4) that other Chinese youths who had not been in any of the Government Schools but wished to learn English should be admissible on payment of fees to the headmaster's classes; and (5) that the superintendence of the other Schools, not concentrated in the proposed Institution, be continued as heretofore, the Headmaster (as Inspector) to be assisted in it by the Board of Education. This plan, admirable in its conception of a Model School to form the centre of the educational system of Hongkong, placed the Headmaster and Inspector of Schools, who was at the same time a Government Officer, in the same hybrid relation to the Government and to a fluctuating and internally dissentient Board of private educationists, which had made Mr. Ibscheid's position one of constant friction and which, in this case also, was bound to come to a speedy termination. The announcement of Dr. Legge's plan was the death-knell of St. Andrew's School. It was closed at the end of the year 1860, during which it had been taught by Mr. J. Kemp and attended by 70 boys. Mr. Kemp had adopted the Madras system of monitorial teaching and obtained good results. He reported the School to be increasing in favour among the Chinese population. Nevertheless, Dr. Legge's popular plan put the extinguisher on St. Andrew's School. Out of its ashes arose that phoenix of the Government Central School which now bears the prouder name of Victoria College.\n\nIn reporting on the Government Schools for the year 1860, the Committee announced the sanguine expectation, which has ever since been connected with the Central School and Victoria College, that some day the Schools of Hongkong will exercise an important influence on the system of education pursued in the Schools of China itself. Meanwhile, these Hongkong Government Schools, now 30 in number, and attended by 902 boys and 46 girls, had but an imperfect organization, and the method of teaching followed in the Schools was a strange medley of Chinese and European and latterly of religious and secular principles. The Committee actually reported that the monitorial system had been adopted in the smaller Schools. Even the sphere to be allotted to English instruction, in relation to Chinese studies, with a view to obtaining decent results in both languages—which is the real crux, still unsolved, of the educational problem of Hongkong—was not defined yet. The Committee expressed in this report a vague desire that education in English should enter more largely into the conduct of the principal Schools than it has yet done. The Government spent, during the year 1860, a total of $6725 on education.\n\n## 1861\n\nThe revival of Voluntary Schools, which had so suddenly set in with the year 1860, continued during the year 1861. St. Paul's College received a new lease of life, as a School, by the arrival of a new tutor, Mr. J. Fryer, now the well-known Translator of scientific works at Kiangnan Arsenal. He had 4 Chinese assistant teachers under him and 44 boys under instruction. The expenses of the School amounted to $4000. The Girls School, opened by Bishop Smith in 1860, was now, on the arrival of the instructress, Miss Eaton, re-organized under the name of the Diocesan Native Female Training School, beginning with 17 Chinese girls, temporarily located at the Albany. The Government having granted a building site (that of the present Diocesan School), a local Ladies Committee, under the presidency of Mrs. Smith, raised funds by local subscriptions and a good-sized building was erected. As the instructress was sent out and maintained, independently of the local Committee, by the London Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East, which now for the first time entered upon its long-continued educational labours in Hongkong, there was a divided control which naturally did not augur much success.\n\nAnother new educational agency, unfortunately but of a few years' duration but to the present day living in the memory of many, appeared on the scene in the person of Miss Baxter. Being possessed of independent means, Miss Baxter started on her own account, but in connection with the above-mentioned Female Education Society, most useful Christian work among the women and children of Hongkong. No class of people in need of education, help, or comfort, escaped Miss Baxter's observation and energetic helpfulness. The wives and children of the soldiers of the garrison in town and at Stanley (where they were ruthlessly decimated by malarial fever), Chinese women and girls of all classes, and most especially the Eurasian children of the Colony, then more numerous and more neglected than at present, were the principal objects of Miss Baxter's unwearied ministrations, by regular house-to-house visits, on the principle of Indian Zenana work. In addition to these labours, Miss Baxter started in 1861, at Ashton Buildings, a Chinese Day School with 2 Chinese teachers, and a Boarding School for Chinese and Eurasian girls (commencing with 8 Chinese girls and 5 Eurasian orphans). At the same time, Miss Magrath, unconnected with any Society, started, with the aid of local donations, an Anglo-Chinese Boarding School, with 6 boys and 10 girls, at Mosque Terrace. Miss Legge continued the re-opened Anglo-Chinese Girls School of the London Mission, under Mrs. Kwan Amni and a Chinese teacher, the School being reported as intended for the daughters of native church members. It cost $205. Finally, two German Ladies of the Berlin Foundling House commenced, in their institution, a School with 13 children costing $144.\n\nAs to the R. C. Mission Schools, the work re-commenced in 1860 was continued in the year 1861. Mr. Rowland gave an English education to 30 boys in the R. C. Boys School in Wellington Street, which cost the Propaganda Society $900. In the same Street, Mr. Vincento Pereira gave a European education in the Portuguese language to 25 boys, also at a cost of $960, and Mr. Leung gave to 90 boys an ordinary Chinese education at a cost of $141. At Spring Gardens, Mr. Vincent Uen (under the direction of the Propaganda Society) taught a Chinese School of 35 boys at a cost of $192, and at Aberdeen, Mr. Stephanus Chú, of the same Society, taught 18 Chinese boys at a cost of $144. In the Seminary in Pottinger Street, eleven students of theology were under the instruction of Fathers G. Favini, J. Borgozzi, and Peter Leang, at a cost of $600. The Sookonpoo Theological School under Father J. Jaquemin had 10 students and cost $480. The Sisters of the Italian Convent, continuing the good work which they had commenced in 1860, had 20 girls receiving an English education under Sister Aloysia, 28 girls receiving a European education in the Portuguese language under Sister Giovannina, and 35 girls receiving a Chinese education under Sister Giuseppina. At Spring Gardens, the Italian Sisters continued their Chinese Girls-School, attended by 30 children under Sister Cecilia Leang, at a cost of $144. The Sisters of the Asile de la Sainte Enfance had, at Spring Gardens, a Chinese Girls School, attended by 34 children, under Sister Benjamin. This School cost $240. There was also a Boys School, attended by 15 Chinese boys under Mr. Joseph Lee, which cost the French Sisters $120.\n\nEarly in the year (9th January, 1861), the Government informed the Board of Education that the Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson) approved of Dr. Legge's Plan and acceded to the recommendation, agreed to by the Board, to place all the Government Schools under the superintendence and inspection of the Headmaster to be placed in charge of the proposed Central School. At the same time, the Government authorized the Board to find a gentleman suited to the post. Dr. Bridges and Dr. Irwin having...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 348655, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "page_number": 388, "title": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "content_text": "# MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.\n\nThe Board of Education, having undergone changes in its membership due to resignations and absences, now consisted of the Colonial Secretary, the Hon. W. T. Mercer (president), the Hon. A. Fletcher, M.L.C., Rev. W. R. Beach, the Rev. Dr. Legge, and Mr. W. Robinson (Secretary). The latter was soon succeeded by Mr. J. C. Power. At the request of the Board, Dr. Legge drafted a circular letter, which was forwarded (10th April, 1861) to the Registrar of London University and to the Principals of the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, requesting each of them to recommend to Bishop Smith (then in England) two gentlemen likely to occupy efficiently the position of Headmaster Principal in the proposed Central School. Bishop Smith was authorized to select from the candidates thus recommended the individual most likely to give satisfaction. The circular described the Government Schools, noting that \"they are not religious Schools, but the sacred Scriptures in Chinese are used as a class book.\" Dr. Legge's characteristic sentences in the circular included: \"The Headmaster will be expected to acquire the Chinese language, without a knowledge of which he cannot fill the situation efficiently. Under the right man, the Institution will not only benefit the Chinese population of this Colony but tell powerfully on the enlightenment and progress of the adjoining Continent.\"\n\nOn 25th March, 1861, Dr. Legge's Plan was submitted to the Legislative Council, which approved it and authorized the purchase of premises for the proposed Government Central School in Gough Street for $20,000 and the erection of an additional building on the same site.\n\nThe Board of Education had abandoned its former, decidedly religious, principles of education and adopted secular principles. This is evident not only from the circular letter but also from the fact that the Board resolved (2nd April, 1861) that the Bishop's Diocesan Girls School, a Christian School and constituted differently from the Government Schools, could not remain under the Board's superintendence. The Rev. W. R. Beach resigned his seat on the Board (3rd September, 1861), and a merchant, Mr. J. J. Mackenzie, took his place. As the Colonial Secretary ceased to attend the Board's meetings around the same time, Dr. Legge was appointed Chairman. Before the close of the year, the Board received (3rd December, 1861) information from the Bishop that he had selected Mr. F. Stewart, M.A., for the Headmastership of the Government Schools.\n\nIn their report for the year 1861, the Committee stated that Dr. Legge had inspected the Schools in the absence of a regular Inspector and reported favorably on attendance and teachers, but the report gave no statistics.\n\n## 1862\n\nSt. Paul's College School, under Mr. J. Fryer, assisted by 4 Chinese teachers, received English boys during 1862, teaching them together with Chinese boys. There were 44 boys in average attendance, and the School cost $4000. The Diocesan Female Training School, under Miss Eaton, continued in the Albany, rent-free, with an average attendance of 17 girls, at a cost of $2043. Miss Baxter continued her Chinese Day School in Ashton Buildings with 20 children and a Chinese-Eurasian Boarding School in Mosque Terrace with 13 children, costing $125 and $625, respectively. Miss Mugrath's European Day School in Mosque Gardens had 16 children, and Miss Legge's Anglo-Chinese School had 12 children. The Berlin Foundling House had 13 children attending school. St. Andrew's School, having closed at the end of the previous year, disappeared from the records.\n\nThe Roman Catholic Schools included: Mr. Rowland's B.C. English Boys School in Wellington Street with 30 boys at a cost of $960; Mr. Pereira's R.C. Portuguese School with 35 boys at the same cost; and Mr. Maurus Leong's R.C. Chinese School with 30 Chinese boys at a cost of $144. The Propaganda Society also ran a Chinese School in Spring Gardens with 35 boys under Mr. Vincent Uen at a cost of $192, and another in Aberdeen with 18 boys under Mr. Stephanus Chu at a cost of $144. The Ecclesiastical School of the French Mission had 10 students under Père Jaqueminet at a cost of $489. The Italian Convent had 20 girls in their English School, 28 girls in their Portuguese School, and 35 girls in their Chinese School, costing $2400. Their Chinese Girls School at Spring Gardens had 30 children at a cost of $144. The Asile de la Sainte Enfance had 34 girls and 15 Chinese boys under Sister Benjamin and Mr. Joseph Lee, respectively, costing $360.\n\nThe great event of the year for Government Schools was the arrival (18th February, 1862) of the new Headmaster, Mr. (later Dr.) Stewart, who established the reign of secularism in local education. He exercised a beneficial influence on hundreds of Chinese youths through his strict discipline and noble character. The Central School became highly popular and the ideal of the community under his leadership.\n\nBefore Dr. Stewart's arrival, Dr. Legge and Mr. J. J. Mackenzie had amalgamated four Government Schools into one Central School at Gough Street. The question of its permanent organization and admission principles was solved by Mr. Mackenzie's Memorandum (3rd June, 1862), which was accepted by the Board (8th October, 1862) with slight modifications. The Regulations for the Government Schools in Hongkong excluded rudimentary Chinese teaching from the Central School, admitting Chinese scholars only after a test examination.\n\nPage 188\nPage 26\nPage 27\nPage 382", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 348658, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "page_number": 391, "title": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "content_text": "## MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.\n\nThe falling off in the attendance was caused chiefly by undue interference with the native methods of teaching the Chinese Classics and by the futile attempt to improve those methods by the application of European principles of teaching. A semblance of Bible reading was still kept up in all the Schools while the Board lasted. The Report states that the Bible is not used as a text book in English, but it is taught by the Chinese Masters in their own language to those scholars whose parents offer no objection.\n\n### 1865\n\nDuring the year 1865, St. Paul's College School continued under the tuition of Mr. Reeve, assisted by a Chinese Master, with an attendance of 38 boys, and an expenditure of $3,350. The Diocesan School also continued its established course, under Miss Eaton, with 35 girls, at a cost of $2,400, but it became evident that the results of an English Education upon Chinese girls drafted from families undermined by the peculiar temptations of Hongkong were not such as could justify a continuance of the School, which was accordingly closed at the end of the year and temporarily utilized to accommodate two Baxter Schools. The premature death of Miss Baxter (from Hongkong fever) caused a temporary disarrangement of the Schools established by her, but the work initiated by her was nobly resuscitated by Miss Oxlad and worthily continued later on by Miss Johnstone on whom Miss Baxter's mantle was destined to fall. Consequent upon Miss Baxter's death, her Staunton Street Boarding School under Miss Oxlad was transferred to the Diocesan School and virtually took the place of the latter School for some time. The remainder of Miss Baxter's pupils were removed to St. Paul's College under the charge of Miss Rodel. A short-lived new School, under the direction of the Church Missionary Society (now for the first time taking up educational work in Hongkong) was started, in April 1865, by the Rev. Ch. J. Warren, Acting Warden of St. Paul's College. The School commenced with 17 Chinese girls as a Boarding School, and had cost $470, when it was closed, in November 1865, for want of funds. The London Mission continued its two Chinese Schools, at Taipingshan and Wantsai, with an attendance of 80 boys at a cost of $400. At the Berlin Foundling House, Mrs. Hanspach and Miss Sties, assisted by 2 Chinese teachers, gave to 21 girls a German-Chinese education, at a cost of $1,480.\n\nThe Roman Catholic Mission made, in the year 1865, a great step in advance, by amalgamating, on the principle of the Government Central School, their several English, Portuguese and Chinese Schools, hitherto located under separate management in Wellington Street, into one institution thenceforth known as St. Saviour's College (in Pottinger Street). This new School assumed, however, a novel and, having regard to the peculiar educational demands of the Colony, most appropriate feature in constituting itself expressly as a Commercial School, specially designed to supply clerks for the commercial offices of Hongkong and the ports of China. Bishop Raimondi evidently took a leaf out of Dr. Legge's book, but it is equally evident, from the actual results obtained by St. Saviour's College, that it was an improvement upon Dr. Legge's creation. This new College, the rival of St. Paul's College as well as of the Central School, brought into play a healthy emulation between the principal local Schools, which has continued to the present day as a prominent factor in Hongkong's educational movement. St. Saviour's College commenced with a strong staff, consisting of Messrs. T. Terry, J. Mayer, V. Pereira, J. Baptista and C. Wagner, and with an attendance of 152 boys, costing $1,440. The Propaganda Society continued its Chinese Elementary School, under Mr. T. Leang, with an attendance of 24 boys, costing $84, but the Aberdeen School appears to have been closed this year. Two Chinese Schools at Spring Gardens are also recorded as Roman Catholic Schools, viz. a Boys School under Mr. A. Leang, with 39 Chinese boys, costing $96 (probably under the Propaganda Society), and a Girls School under Mrs. Chan, with 27 Chinese girls, costing $81 (probably under the direction of the Italian Convent). The two Seminaries, for the training of a native clergy, were continued as in former years: the one in Pottinger Street, with 9 students, being under the tuition of Father B. Vigano and Mr. Jehoshaphat Li, and costing $432, whilst the other, at Sookonpoo, continued under the direction of Père Jaquemin, who had 22 students under his charge, costing the French Mission $960. The Italian Sisters Aloysia, Antoinetta, Virginia, Giuseppina, Perrari and M. Pomen had in their three Schools (English, Portuguese and Chinese) a total of 192 girls, costing the Convent $1,560. The French Sisters, of the Asile de la St. Enfance, had 10 boys and 23 girls (nationality and expense not recorded) under the tuition of Sister M. Lucien.\n\n## MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG.\n\nThe year 1865 was a most eventful one in the history of the Government Schools in particular and of local education in general, for it witnessed not only the establishment of the Education Department, as a branch of the Civil Service, but that which it involved: the supreme reign of secularism, for the next thirteen years, under the advice of Dr. Stewart. As the advent of a new Governor (Sir Hercules Robinson) had enabled Dr. Legge to re-organize the Government Schools and to found the Central School, so Dr. Stewart, soon after having gained the upper hand as Head of the Education Department, finding in the next two Governors (Sir Richard G. MacDonnell and Sir Arthur Kennedy) staunch supporters of his own secularistic notions, was enabled to give them full swing, and we shall find that this principle was carried so far that at one time the question was seriously considered of making St. Paul's College a secular School and that at another time the attempt was made to bring all the Mission Schools under the sway of the secular system.\n\nAt the beginning of the year 1865, the Board of Education held several meetings and passed various resolutions as if unconscious of its impending dissolution. For some time (January 12 to 26) Dr. Stewart acted in place of the Secretary (Mr. Power), and on the latter's resignation (27th March, 1865), the Board requested Dr. Stewart to undertake the duties of Honorary Secretary permanently. But on the same day Dr. Stewart received a communication from the Colonial Secretary, unbeknown to the Board, informing him that it is not the intention of the Governor to perpetuate the Board, but at the fitting time to place him (Dr. Stewart) at the head of the Educational Department. At the next meeting of the Board (4th April, 1865), summoned the day before, no quorum could be obtained, but on 2nd May, 1865, the last meeting was held (Dr. Legge, Mr. Rennie and Dr. Stewart being present), when several resolutions were passed and Dr. Stewart was instructed to report to the Colonial Secretary that the Village Schools are making encouraging progress. On 13th June, 1865, Dr. Legge and the other Members resigned their seats at the Board, and in doing so Dr. Legge expressed the opinion that the Headmaster of the Central School was now thoroughly fitted to supervise the Education Department. On 24th June, 1865, a Gazette Notification announced that Mr. F. Stewart had been appointed Head of the Education Department in place of the Board.\n\nThe Members of the Board, however, and especially Dr. Legge received the cordial thanks of the Government, accompanied by a handsome testimonial forwarded to Dr. Legge.\n\nIn his first report on the Government Schools, for 1865, Dr. Stewart, whilst regretting that he, being Headmaster and Inspector in one person, had to review the principal part of his own duties, gives on the whole a favourable account of the Schools. His principal complaint is... \n\nPage 32\nPage 33\nPage 385", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 348667, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "page_number": 400, "title": "CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4]", "content_text": "## MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN HONGKONG\n\nIn 1881 the number increased to 37 Mission Schools (7 Catholic and 30 Protestant Schools) with 2,237 scholars, the religious Grant-in-Aid Schools now mustering more scholars than the secular Government Schools. Thus the development of the Voluntary Schools continued to the present day, there being in 1890 as many as 4,656 scholars attending the Mission Schools (60 Protestant and 15 Catholic Schools), whilst Government Schools were attended by little more than half that number, viz. 2,514 scholars. Moreover the annual competitive examinations amply testify that the teaching given in the Voluntary Schools is not in any sense inferior to that given in the Government Schools, whilst the education thus given costs the Government (apart from cost of Government School-buildings) from $25 per scholar in Victoria College to $8 in the outside Government Schools, but in the Grant-in-Aid Schools only $5.62 per scholar. The principal gain, however, secured by the Amended Grant-in-Aid Scheme, is perhaps to be found in the fact that local education continued to develop steadily, from 1878 down to the present day, without any friction whatsoever.\n\nThe further course of the development of the Schools in the Colony is within the personal recollection of those most interested in them and is perhaps too near to our view yet to admit of impartial historic treatment.\n\nWe take leave of our readers with the consciousness of having impartially noted down the course of events, just as the facts within our reach appeared to us to demonstrate it. But the materials for forming an independent judgment are now before the reader and each will put his own construction upon them. Nevertheless we feel sure that those of our readers who are qualified to judge will agree in at least two conclusions, viz. that the development of local education has on the whole run a course of healthy though slow growth, and that success in the future lies in stimulating voluntary efforts in education. But this, we believe, can only be done by confining directly governmental educational work to gratuitous Elementary Schools and by setting Voluntary Schools of all creeds (Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Mahomedan and Confucian etc.) free, with the aid of a liberal Grant-in-Aid Scheme, and without being handicapped by low fees in Government Schools, to overtake the needs of an annually increasing population by the voluntary supply of Secondary and High Schools in proportion as the demand for such may grow.\n\nIn conclusion we would urge upon all local Educationists the importance of a careful study of the course which education has so far run in Hongkong. If we ignore the past, we cannot understand the present nor forecast the future.\n\n**E. J. E.**\n\n*Note. The paragraph headed '1860' requires the addition of the following remarks.\n\nDuring the year 1860, four Protestant Schools were at work. St. Paul's College School was attended by 53 boys costing $3,750. The 'Ladies' Chinese Girls School' at the Albany, under the tuition of Miss Wilson, was attended by 15 girls costing $1,500. St. Andrew's School, under the direction of Mr. J. Kemp, had an attendance of 70 boys and cost $1,200. Miss Legge re-opened the former London Mission Girls School with 2 teachers and 15 girls, costing $200.\n\n## DRAFT\n\nNo 88\n\nHong Kong Six W. Robinson Hiring Mr.\n\n**MINUTE**\n\n3. Lucas 6. April\n\nMr. Fairfield.\nMr. Wingfield.\nMr. Bramston.\nMr. Meade.\nBaron de Worms.\nLord Knutsford.\n\nfor Consideration\n\nMark to be noted in Eastan\n\nApril 92\n\nI have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch no. 68 of the 27th of Feb: enclosing, with reference to my despatch No. 198 of the 1st of September last, a copy of a further report on Educational matters by the Inspector of Schools.\n\n2. I shall be glad if you will convey to E. J. Eitel my acknowledgements for his accompanying report and for the pamphlet entitled \"Materials for history of education in Hong Kong\". \n\nI do not propose to discuss...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-254 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1892 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 458671, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-429 - Public Offices & Others - 1915", "page_number": 232, "title": "CO129-429 - Public Offices & Others - 1915", "content_text": "2110\n\n7\n\nHONG KONG\n\n32921\n\nTreasury Hee of Exchang\n\n1915\n\nInch\n\n236\n\n¡RECC\n\nC\n\n0\n\n32921\n\nREG 17 JUL 15\n\nHet of Exchange of bele, Withers with\n\nEne loves\n\nBank Notes.\n\n16 July actors copy to thee to Treasury wher\n\nletter Cheat\n\nLast previous Paper.\n\nD10874\n\nAusd\n\ncomo 2 Augt. Reminded in Nov\n\nminded 15. Feb. 16.\n\nNext subsequent Papel\n\nSou\n\n33818\n\nBot\n\nOfficer dealing\n\nhr\n\nand\n\nuggestions for\n\nwith the difficulty\n\nRobinson Cotting\n\nTreasury\n\nhave considered the\n\nsilver dollars.\n\ndo ust\n\ndeem\n\n6\n\nCauses Ĉ the discount\n\nWe have\n\nI\n\nan\n\naccount A\n\nсове\n\nthese in fara 38 10874. They affear to be\n\n!!! inconvenience\n\nastis.\n\nThis is\n\nJ\n\ndollars\n\nis compared with accentuated by the prevalencs\n\nOf cobbery and firary in China\"\n\ncasion to\n\nLide\n\n(2) slackness\n\nidle.\n\nThis is\n\nB\n\nLa\n\nnotes ar\n\ntrade resulting in leaving seven\n\ntemporary matter and probably\n\naccount for\n\ncasson the improvement in trade\n\n(8,103). WL81,086-13, 45,000. 12/13. A.&E.W,\n\n31,097-81. 45,000. 11/14.\n\n..\n\ncuay\n\n\"the halving of the discount which has taken place\n\nPro", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-429 - Public Offices & Others - 1915.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 460302, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "page_number": 435, "title": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "content_text": "XXII. \n\nCHINA ASSOCIATION. \n\nXXIII. \n\nSTATEMENT of RECEIPTS and EXPENDITURE for the year ended the 31st December, 1914.\n\nLIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS TOWARDS OFFICE EXPENSES\n\nACCOUNT, 1914.\n\nDR.\n\n1914.\n\n£ s. d.\n\n1914.\n\n£ s. d.\n\nTo Balance brought forward\n\n227 16 5\n\nBy Rent of Offices\n\n178 10 2\n\nEntrance Fees\n\n2 19 0\n\n,, Salaries\n\n450 0 0\n\nSubscriptions of Home Members, viz.:\n\nOn account of 1912\n\n5 5 0\n\n,, Printing Annual Report\n\n132 6 8\n\n1913\n\n8 8 0\n\n,, Cost of Removal, Repairs and Furniture..\n\n178 10 10\n\n1914\n\n303 19 0\n\n,, Cost of Typewriting, Typewriter and Cyclostyle Material ...\n\n99 6 4\n\n314 9 0\n\n,, Newspapers and Books\n\n20 8 1\n\n1015 1 1 0\n\n,, Postages and Stationery...\n\n19 8 2\n\n,, Printing and Binding &c.\n\n20 11 0\n\n,, Subscriptions towards Office Expenses\n\n22 0 0\n\nInterest on Deposit in Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, for year 1914\n\n12 5 0\n\nInterest on 20 Bonds Japanese Loan 1907, at 5 per cent., less Tax\n\n53 10 0\n\nReceived from Members as Subscriptions for purchase of Tobacco for Troops and to \"Newspapers for the Fleet Fund\"\n\n205 0 0\n\nExpenses in connection with new Lease\n\n6 0 0\n\nPress Cuttings and Albums\n\n4 1 9\n\nFreight and Insurance\n\n17 7 10 0\n\n,, Corporation Duty\n\n5 8 0\n\n93 19 2\n\nElectric Light and Telephone\n\n9 19 11\n\nHousekeeper\n\n11 11 9\n\nThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation\n\n40 0 0\n\nThe P. & O. Steam Navigation Co.\n\n40 0 0\n\nThe Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China\n\n30 0 0\n\nMessrs. Jardine, Matheson and Co., Ltd.\n\n90 0 0\n\nMessrs. John D. Hutchison and Sons, Ltd.\n\n30 0 0\n\nThe China Navigation Co., Ltd....\n\n30 0 0\n\nThe Taikoo Sugar Refining Co., Ltd.\n\n90 0 0\n\nThe Ocean Steamship Co., Ltd.\n\n20 0 0\n\nMessrs. Beiss Bros. and Co.\n\n20 0 0\n\nUnion Insurance Society of Canton, Ltd.\n\n20 0 0\n\nMessrs. David Sassoon and Co., Ltd.\n\n15 15 0\n\nNorth China Insurance Co., Ltd.\n\n15 15 0\n\nCanton Insurance Office, Ltd.\n\n15 0 0\n\nMessrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co.\n\n...\n\nChina and Japan Trading Co., Ltd.\n\n...\n\nMessrs. Probat, Hanbury and Co.\n\n...\n\nYangtze Insurance Association, Ltd.\n\n...\n\nMessrs. Richardson...\n\n...\n\nSundries\n\n9 7 1\n\n144 0 0\n\nPurchase of Tobacco for Troops and Subscription to Fund for Newspapers for the Fleet\n\n200 17 6\n\nAdvances to Members of Shanghai Volunteer Contingent, recoverable\n\n27 0 0\n\nCash in hand\n\n2 0 6\n\n£1,398 6 8\n\n£1,383 6 8\n\nASSETS.\n\nE.&O.E.\n\n1915. Jan. 1st.\n\nTo Balance brought down\n\n£ s. d.\n\n57 11 10\n\n20 Bonds Japanese Loan 1907, £2,000, costing\n\n1,979 9 11\n\nR. CHATTERTON WILCOX,\n\nHon. Treasurer.\n\nAmount on Deposit with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation\n\n200 0 0\n\nAudited and found correct,\n\nF. SALINGER.\n\nLondon, 15th May, 1915.\n\nMessrs. Beith, Stevenson and Co.\n\n10 0 0\n\nMessrs. G. and R. Dewhurst, Ltd.\n\n10 0 0\n\nMessrs. Stewart, Thomson and Co.\n\n10 0 0\n\nMessrs. Geo. Woolley and Co.\n\n10 0 0\n\nMessrs. Geo. Fraser, Son and Co.\n\n10 0 0\n\nMessrs. Geo. Robinson and Co.\n\n5 5 0\n\nMessrs. John Ingdale and Bros....\n\n5 5 0\n\nA. T. Manger, Esq.\n\n5 0 0\n\nMessrs. Macgregor, Caldbeck and Co.\n\n5 0 0\n\nShanghai Waterworks Co., Ltd.\n\n...\n\nMessrs. W. M. Sirmohan and Co, Ltd.\n\n3 5 0\n\nMessrs. Thorne and Co.\n\n5 5 0\n\nMessrs. Chesnutt, Cooper & Co,\n\n5 8 0\n\nMessrs. Collins and Co.\n\n5 6 0\n\nMessrs. Cornes & Co.\n\n5 5 0\n\nMessrs. Gilman and Co.\n\n5 5 0\n\nMessrs. Dodwell and Co., Ltd.\n\n5 0 0\n\nMessrs. Dent Bros. and Co.\n\n5 0 0\n\nChina Mutual Steam Navigation Co., Ltd.\n\n500\n\nEaston Extension Australia and China Tel. Co.\n\n...\n\n...\n\n171 5 0", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 465996, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-439 - Others - 1916", "page_number": 226, "title": "CO129-439 - Others - 1916", "content_text": "add 4. PS. from the suigest\" London acety of batter enclose to Ch. of and send the encer. ie on the I cund 30/5/16 que It 30ffel tonee Mr. Robinson the Anderson Callast Ha had Beam at had been informer this W.T.D. yesterday letter A Q that = they bod axrattam saying that olfaction to freely for What he wants the frolilation shot. be the Gove. Granting exfrontation bances EVS, A that the removed deng brances might Qub ban Qus of trade the U.S.A the grant of wish of diversion version that if would not AR involve The WTD. L to them Afferently J They KAME thevery had also dem proposed this object. the F.O. who said that interested He could hardly excceft but I do not think mille - carly She mig JES i sury objection to flacing of course the U.S.A that there wat Me rastricted tist\n\nWa H. Kong frohibition will in force here - in genual offrored be different from TD but if if they handly other Carls 221 *.S. bolata where Colonial and U.K. huolibitions Mr. Collins seet the frepared to agree C differculties (yeare & cofera J mot tha I hang of F.O. outs wali might take their comeurne - They table oljon. to how fan for granted and particular views to the conting hear from them take it that act W.TD, ached Comcast they accordingly. I understand that and if alek Rammett been dealing with will send Ras Ploom 6, this W.T.D., and if I sam I ask him to without send off lat me Lorel it to him Rensur waiting for. Oft herewith Cust letter tio and whether W. T.D official refly. 31/5/16\n\nPage XX\n\nThe text appears to be a historical document, likely a letter or memo, with some OCR errors. I have corrected some of the obvious errors and reformatted the text into paragraphs. However, some parts remain unclear or nonsensical due to the quality of the OCR output.\n\nI have reordered the text to the best of my abilities, but some sentences or phrases may still be out of order or unclear.\n\nHere is the revised HTML output:\n\nadd 4. PS. from the suggestion London Society of Battery enclose to Ch. of and send the enclosure on the I could 30/5/16 quote It 30ffel tonee Mr. Robinson the Anderson Callast Ha had Beam at had been informed this W.T.D. yesterday letter A Q that they body axrattam saying that olfaction to freely for What he wants the frolilation shot be the Gov. Granting exfrontation bances EVS, A that the removed deng brances might Qub ban Qus of trade the U.S.A the grant of wish of diversion version that if would not AR involve The WTD. L to them Apparently J They KAME the very had also dem proposed this object. the F.O. who said that interested He could hardly except but I do not think mille carly She mig JES i sury objection to placing of course the U.S.A that there was Me restricted list\n\nWa H. Kong frohibition will in force here - in general offrored be different from TD but if if they handly other Carls 221 *.S. bolata where Colonial and U.K. huolibitions Mr. Collins seet the prepared to agree C difficulties (years & cofera J mot tha I hang of F.O. outs wali might take their comeurne - They table oljon. to how fan for granted and particular views to the conting hear from them take it that act W.TD, ached Comcast they accordingly. I understand that and if alek Rammett been dealing with will send Ras Ploom 6, this W.T.D., and if I saw I ask him to without send off let me Lorel it to him Rensur waiting for. Oft herewith Cust letter tio and whether W. T.D official reply. 31/5/16\n\nHowever, to follow the exact instruction to output only HTML using for paragraphs, the final output is:\n\nadd 4. PS. from the suggestion London Society of Battery enclose to Ch. of and send the enclosure on the I could 30/5/16 quote It 30ffel tonee Mr. Robinson the Anderson Callast Ha had Beam at had been informed this W.T.D. yesterday letter A Q that they body axrattam saying that olfaction to freely for What he wants the frolilation shot be the Gov. Granting exfrontation bances EVS, A that the removed deng brances might Qub ban Qus of trade the U.S.A the grant of wish of diversion version that if would not AR involve The WTD. L to them Apparently J They KAME the very had also dem proposed this object. the F.O. who said that interested He could hardly except but I do not think mille carly She mig JES i sury objection to placing of course the U.S.A that there was Me restricted list\n\nWa H. Kong frohibition will in force here - in general offrored be different from TD but if if they handly other Carls 221 *.S. bolata where Colonial and U.K. huolibitions Mr. Collins seet the prepared to agree C difficulties (years & cofera J mot tha I hang of F.O. outs wali might take their comeurne - They table oljon. to how fan for granted and particular views to the conting hear from them take it that act W.TD, ached Comcast they accordingly. I understand that and if alek Rammett been dealing with will send Ras Ploom 6, this W.T.D., and if I saw I ask him to without send off let me Lorel it to him Rensur waiting for. Oft herewith Cust letter tio and whether W. T.D official reply. 31/5/16", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-439 - Others - 1916.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 466290, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-439 - Others - 1916", "page_number": 520, "title": "CO129-439 - Others - 1916", "content_text": "TYN\n\nA. OCT.\n\n515\n\nM.C. 47413 HONG KONG\n\n*\n\nto 2.1900. #gbe Ivontos of\n\nFAL\n\n:\n\nNetop g\n\n0702 20 bes\n\nFAT ET, WAT 10%\n\nM\n\nJne.\n\nDRAFT.\n\n.718\n\nI DAGER,\n\nT\n\nBALE BELGE POUR L'ETRAL GEN.\n\nAAN\n\nMINUTE.\n\nBeckett\n\nDixon\n\n13/10/16 #4/10/16\n\nMr. Robinson 10/10\n\nMr. Cothing\n\nMr. Grindle.\n\nMr. Lambert.\n\nMr. Read.\n\nSir G. Fiddes.\n\nMr. Steel-Maitland,\n\nMr. Bonar Law.\n\npo\n\n16\n\nfs\n\n(45754)\n\nentificati end. in 45754.\n\nwh of flication whouted her\n\ndinct the Au. 0.9. by\n\nsir.\n\nDowning Street,\n\nOctober, 1916\n\nク\n\nI am directed by Secretary Bonar Law to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th of October, and to return to you the certificate of origin from the Burgomaster of the Commune de Dampreny enclosed in your letter of the 23rd of September, regarding the consignment of Belgian glass for Hong Kong.\n\n2. The system of shipping permits for Belgian Goods in force for shipments to neutral countries does not apply to shipments to British Colonies; and we are taking care of the latter.\n\nA British Consular certificate of origin issued by the British Consul General at Rotterdam is required. In this connection, I am to refer to the notice which appeared on pages...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-439 - Others - 1916.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477166, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-449 - Governor Sir May & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1918 [7-9]", "page_number": 396, "title": "CO129-449 - Governor Sir May & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1918 [7-9]", "content_text": "# Deep. No255 of 1968 \n`(51933/18)`\n\n\n392 \nMay \n1918 \n255 \n5 Sep.\n\nLast previous Paper. \nSov 43085 \n**HONG KONG** \n51933 \nCO \n51033 \nRack BEE 28 OCT 18 \n\nAfrican Dept. re: application of De J.C. Johnson for post of Rud Uganda \nstudy \n- \n: \nfraud \nJ.U.I. CRNAs can \nhas no \nobjection to transfer if he can be spared without undue \ndelay. \n29. \n\nQuod \nNext subsequent Paper, \nMr. Robinson \nE. African Dept. \nA.E.C. \n30.10.18 \nW. Bomly book Cotting \nGov. Uganda has already telegraphed (`m2, 3005`), #Kong) had copy of the Telegram containing Dr. Johnson's application. \nWe must wait for \nreply from Uganda \non the subject. \n... \n(I should say that there was little hope of \nfinding a \nsuccessor to W. Johnson in Hong Kong) \nwait \n? but 19. AM. 31.10.18 \nEsq. [Shobe that by Coryndon will be able to recommend the acting ...] \n[(29$98—1 k.) Wt. 24861–18. 12m, 9,78. \nD&S. G122/41. \n\nAll once \n6cs \nA&C 1.11.18", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-449 - Governor Sir May & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1918 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 495704, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-481 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [8-12]", "page_number": 370, "title": "CO129-481 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [8-12]", "content_text": "363\n\nOther schemes for unkeeping.\n\nScheme for cheap bungalow.\n\nCommon lodging houses for coolies.\n\nMatsbeds for hearing labourers.\n\nSkogbai scheme for building cheap houses.\n\nSale conditions of Crown land to stipulate minimum number of houses to be built.\n\nbecause both are designed to encourage more buildings. We understand that since the terms for the latter scheme were given out to the public a few weeks ago, twenty applications for erecting blocks of houses on large areas have been received by the Government, whilst over 1,000 applications to build houses have been received under Mr. Fred Ellis' scheme referred to in paragraph 7 (3).\n\n37. We would take this opportunity of directing attention to the scheme of Mr. F. P. de V. Soares mentioned in para. 7 (2) of this Report.\n\n38. We would also call attention to Mr. Li Ping's letter (34) in Enclosure 1, in which he suggests that the Government grant a certain number of acres of land at a cheap premium and low Crown rent, for the purpose of building standardised two-storey Chinese tenement-houses for the Chinese working classes or those of moderate means, covering an area of 800 square feet each, and costing about $3,000 a house, which could accommodate 30 persons, and for which a monthly rental of $20, exclusive of taxes, could be charged, so that each man has only to pay 70 cents a month in rent. Mr. Li Ping suggests that suitable areas for the erection of such houses for workmen can be found at Wongneichung, Tai Hang, Quarry Bay and Shaukiwan on Hongkong Island, and at To Kwa Wan and Tai Shek Koo in the Kowloon Peninsula. Cheung Sha Wan seems also suitable for the purpose. (See also paragraphs 69 to 71 as to the advantage of standardization).\n\n39. Mr. Frank Smith in his letter (51) in Enclosure 1, gives an ingenious design for the erection of Chinese tenement-houses on the Praya East Reclamation, and works out a scheme for a tenement-flat consisting of a kitchen, a bed-room and a living room at $8 a month.\n\n40. Letter (12) from Mr. T. Rainsay in Enclosure 1, contains useful suggestions as to the building of a 5-room bungalow to cost $10,500, and a 3-room bungalow to cost about $7,500, provided that 50 or more are built, to one design, of certain materials which he specifies. The Hongkong Engineering & Construction Co. in letter (22) in Enclosure 1 deals with the question of erecting up-to-date 5-room bungalows with baths and sanitary conveniences. Mr. Y. Abbas in letter (30) sends a rough plan of a 4-room house, similar to one which he has built at Gindrinkers' Bay, which could be built for $5,000 to $5,500.\n\n41. There will also be found in Enclosure 3, an interesting and detailed scheme by the Hon. Mr. H. T. Jackman for the erection by the Government, of common lodging-houses for coolies, including the supply of food for them, together with a system of inspectors for looking after them.\n\n42. There are also suggestions in various letters in Enclosure 1, as to the erection by the Government of matsbeds to allow labourers to live rent free, so as to attract them to the Colony—see letters (19), (35) and (39).\n\n43. In his evidence (Enclosure 8 (2)) Mr. Lam Woo also mentions a scheme in vogue in Shanghai for building cheap houses. We consider, however, that, as such houses are necessarily built with more flimsy materials than those required by our Buildings Ordinance, the scheme would be unsuitable to Hongkong, owing to its liability to typhoons.\n\n44. In order to prevent purchasers of Crown land from building as few houses as possible, and as closely as they can, upon one side of the land purchased, and selling the remaining unbuilt-on portion for a profit, we recommend that the Government should stipulate for a minimum as well as a maximum number of houses to be erected on all Crown land to be sold in future.\n\n45. To ensure the success of efforts to encourage the building of as many dwelling-houses as would meet the present demand, we consider it desirable, in addition to granting land cheap, for the Government, in some cases, to afford financial assistance, by loans at 5%, to applicants for erecting houses for the accommodation of the following classes of persons:-\n\nBritish residents of moderate means.\n\nPortuguese and Indian residents of moderate means.\n\nChinese permanent residents of moderate means.\n\nThe Chinese working classes.\n\nSuch assistance, should be subject to a restriction against resale or alienation in any way for a term of 15 years, and subject to the restriction that the rent to be charged during that period is to give a net return not exceeding 8% on the capital outlay.\n\nGovernment loans (I) to build houses for tenants of moderate means.\n\nloans (II) to persons wishing to build for their own occupation.\n\n46. We also recommend that the Government, in addition to granting Government land cheap, grant loans at 5% to such persons as are approved of by the Governor in Council, for the purpose of enabling them to build houses for their own occupation, with terms as to repayment extending over a period of 20 years, and a covenant against resale or alienation in any way during such period of 20 years.\n\nbreach of building Covenant.\n\n47. We consider that in the past the Government has been rather lenient in dealing with delays in complying with building covenants, and we therefore recommend that, in future, the right of re-entry for breach of the building covenant be more strictly enforced. This will have the effect of speeding up building operations.\n\n48. Mr. L. G. Bird in his letter in Enclosure 8 (6), suggests that, with a view to saving time, the following sections of the Buildings Ordinance, No. 1 of 1903, should be so amended as to give powers to the Director of Public Works, acting as Building Authority, to grant modifications, subject to a right of appeal to the Governor in Council by the person dissatisfied with the decision of the Building Authority:\n\nSections 18 134 135 136 137 138\n\n153 162 175 176 179 180 188 216.\n\nThis matter we recommend for consideration in connection with pending amendments to the Ordinance.\n\n49. Complaints having been received that applications for Crown land have not been and are not now being attended to as expeditiously as they should have been or should be, we suggest that, in future, sites applied for should be put up and sold promptly so as to encourage building enterprises and to save the locking-up of capital. To enable the Survey Office of the Public Works Department to cope with the above work a recommendation for increasing its staff will be found in paragraphs 59 and 60.\n\nExtension of Building authority's power under Ordinance I of 1903.\n\nPrompt sale of sites applied for.\n\nSchemes for road-widening to be published.\n\n50. Mr. Lawrence Gibbs in his letter (8) in Enclosure 1, suggests that all proposed schemes for the widening of roads should be gazetted for general information. He subsequently informed the Chairman that plans which his firm had prepared for certain houses on Robinson Road had to be re-drawn, because a scheme for the widening of that road had not been disclosed to the public. We consider that, where possible, such road-widening schemes should be published.\n\n51. Messrs. Palmer & Turner in letter (10) in Enclosure 1, suggest that the Government should give greater encouragement to pioneers by constructing all sewers and mains, and training nullahs, et cetera, at Government expense in new areas about to be developed, even when the number of houses to be erected is small.\n\nEncouragement to pioneers developing new areas,", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-481 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [8-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]